School boards see no end in sight for backlog of repairs

The region’s Roman Catholic school board needs a five-fold increase in funding for school repairs just to keep pace — an unattainable figure that underscores the pressures of aging buildings amid the threat of government spending cuts.

Jacquie Davison, superintendent of business with the London District Catholic school board, stands outside portables at St. Catherine of Siena elementary school – one of the schools in the board dealing with overcrowding – in the city’s north end. (JONATHAN JUHA, The London Free Press)

The region’s Roman Catholic school board needs a five-fold increase in funding for school repairs just to keep pace, an unattainable figure that underscores the pressures of aging buildings amid the threat of government spending cuts.

The London District Catholic school board, according to a new report for its four-year strategic plan, would need $35 million annually if it wanted to “meet the maintenance and repair needs of the current buildings.”

The amount it received for repairs during the 2018-19 school year was $7.4 million.

So the school board’s chair isn’t holding his breath that the tab will ever be filled, particularly with the sense that the Doug Ford government is looking to slash spending as it battles a deficit it pegs at $13.5 billion.

“We live in the real world and we have to deal with what we have, so we will prioritize the projects that we need the most . . . but I have no expectations that we will ever catch up to where we would like to be,” said chairperson John Jevnikar.

“This is part of the reason why we are having this consultation (on the strategic plan)— to inform people where we are at and to get their point of view on what they consider are the important issues.”

Some of the most pressing needs for the Catholic board include renovation projects to make older schools more accessible and compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, said Jacquie Davison, superintendent of business at the board.

“The main challenges that we have are the disparity between our new schools, which were built in the 2000s, vs. the schools that were built in the 1950s and 1960s,” she said. “We just can’t keep the (older schools) up to the standards that parents and students are expecting today.”

Last year, the Ford government scrapped energy upgrades to schools after it killed the cap-and-trade climate change scheme that funded them.

The board is also still waiting to hear back from the Ministry of Education on funding for a new school in north London to address overcapacity in the area — St. Catherine of Siena, for instance, uses several portables to accommodate its students – and major renovation projects at two other schools in the eastern parts of the city.

Funding for those projects was part of a $67.4-million package for the Catholic, Thames Valley District and Lambton Kent District school boards announced by Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals in early 2018. The projects, however, have been on hold as the new government reviews them.

Sandra Zeni, a spokesperson with the Ministry of Education, said funding for the projects remains in place but didn’t provide a timeline as to when they would move forward.

“Ministry staff continue to work with board staff on the progress of their projects,” Zeni said in an email response, adding allocations of new funds for the new school year is yet to be determined.

“The government is taking the necessary time to determine the next steps for future capital funding and will have more to say in the coming months. The province is working to assess its capital inventory across all sectors, not just education.”

The Catholic board is far from being alone in this issue. Some estimates put the backlog in school repairs across the province at $16 billion.

The Thames Valley board — Southwestern Ontario’s largest — is updating and recalculating its renewal needs, but the latest available data in 2017 put the five-year work estimate at more than $750 million. For the 2018-2019 school year, the board received close to $55 million in school renewal funding.

These types of numbers show how the government should be investing in, not cutting, education, said Terence Kernaghan, NDP MPP for London North Centre.

“We have a situation right now where we have schools that are quite literally crumbling,” he said. “I’m really frightened about our future when we have a government that does not understand what is a good investment and what is not.”

Compounding the issue for the Catholic board is the rate at which it is growing — although officials say that’s a better situation to be in than a decline.

After years of steady declines, the board has seen an increase in the number of students enrolling at its schools —– a byproduct of immigration to the city — especially at the elementary level. Next September, the board is anticipating an additional 700 new students.

“There are going to be pressures, there are going to be stresses, but overall we are looking forward to this opportunity in terms of what we are experiencing right now in new growth,” said Linda Staudt, the board’s director of education.

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